Now that you’ve become an expert in building successful habits, it’s time to start getting really serious about our habit building.
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg talks about keystone habits. Keystone habits are small changes we make to our routine that over time have a spillover effect into every other aspect of our lives. These are exactly the type of habits we’re trying to develop when our intentions are centered around healthy living.
The positive transformation that comes from keystone habits
Yoga is in many ways a keystone habit. Here’s how it works. You decide your new year’s resolution is going to be to practice yoga three times a week. You start going to yoga. You realize it makes you feel better. You give yourself a reward for going. And then you start going even more then three times a week, not because you have to but because your body loves it so much. You realize that your entire life is better when you do go. As you practice more and more, you realize that you start eating better. Once you start eating better, you notice that you feel better all around and you become interested in meditation. You start a meditation practice. All of the sudden your life has completely changed for the better and it was all because you developed a keystone habit.
Keystone habits are habit patterns that will have a massive effect on your lifestyle, even if the routine or habit itself is small. The secret to success with keystone habits is an unwavering commitment to consistency!
Create your own keystone habit
Today or this weekend, take a look at the habits that you want to start or keep doing in your life and reacquaint yourself with how these habits relate to your goals, resolutions, and intentions.
Then pick one habit that you think will have the most profound positive effect on your life at the same time that it will get you closer to your goal. This is your keystone habit.
Once you’ve identified your keystone habit, use the principles we’ve been discussing each day in the Healthy Habits series to stick with it!
Let me know what your keystone habit is over on the Facebook page!
